


of fathers and monsters

by crickets



Category: True Blood
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-26
Updated: 2011-03-26
Packaged: 2017-10-20 04:15:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/208630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crickets/pseuds/crickets





	of fathers and monsters

Jessica never did like her father much.

Most teenage girls don't, she suspects, but as we all like to think that we're different and special, she holds the disdain she held for her father in a higher regard than she might the average girl's fatherly hate.

 _She likes Bill though_ , she thinks. And even though maybe he's not all that thrilled about being a father figure, she's sure he'll get used to it.

 _Eventually_.

 

 **TWO**.  
 _So_ , she kind of has a crush on him.

This don't last for long, but even after it passes, it's hard for her not to look at him with a kind of reverence and childlike admiration.

"Jessica Hamby, I am not a man to be admired!" He will tell her this very matter-of-factly, _exclamation point stressed_ , when he catches her looking at him in this way.

 _Are so, Bill Compton_! Sometimes she says this part out loud, sometimes not. But she is _always_ thinkin' it. No matter if she tries not to.

 

 **THREE**.  
When the law passes, and Jessica finally marries the love of her life -- that'd be Hoyt Fortenberry for those playin' along at home -- Jessica asks Bill to be the one to walk her down the aisle.

She's pretty sure he's doin' whatever the vampire equivalent to blushing is when he tells her that he will gladly take on the responsibility.

"I would be extremely honored," he says.

Jessica giggles, jumping up and down as she does.

"Oh, for Christ's sake," Bill says. ( _But he's still smiling_.)

 

 **FOUR**.  
Jessica only messes up once after that first year.

Bill doesn't get mad or shout at her or even seem too angry. Instead he helps her hide the body, gives her another calm lesson on control and perseverance, even during hard times.

"You'd never suspect you lived through the Great Depression," she jokes, but apologizes when she catches sight of his glare.

"Here, take this," he says, picking up the two shovels leaning against the trunk of a tree and handing her one.

"Thanks, Bill," she says after a moment, digging the blade into the hard earth.

"Yeah," he says, following suit. "Well, you're welcome."

 

 **FIVE**.  
More than anything, _Bill Compton_ taught her how to be human.

In the years that pass until she can no longer count them, she always comes back to that idea. Being a vampire comes easy. Being a killer is instinctual and the hardest thing in her life she's ever had to fight. Without him, she wouldn't have been able to. She would have never had Hoyt. She would have never had a family or people who truly cared for her. Without Bill Compton, she'd have been a monster, plain and simple.

She uses what she learned from him to teach Hoyt, _when the time comes_. Fact is, she uses it to get through every waking moment.

"They really have thought of everything," Hoyt says, one night, Jessica curled next to him on the couch, a show about singing shark tamers playing on the TV.

"You know," Jessica says absently, not paying attention to Hoyt or the story on the screen. "Bill Compton was not such a bad guy."

Hoyt chuckles a little and kisses her forehead. "No he wasn't, baby. No he wasn't."

 _-fin_


End file.
